Subj : Re: Weakling
To   : Dennis Katsonis
From : Angela Walker
Date : Sat Oct 31 2020 07:12 pm

  Re: Re: Weakling
  By: Dennis Katsonis to Lee Lofaso on Tue Sep 08 2020 09:16 am

I can list a few ways that Trump being president has tangibly and negatively
affected my life in a real way!
Under Obama, LGBT individuals such as myself had federal legal protections
against discrimination. LGBT students could feel safe in public - they could
use public restrooms without fear of legal action being taken against them -
something that should be a basic human right for all Americans. LGBT employees
had federal non-discrimination protections. Transgender persons could
participate in the Armed Services.  I could go on. Thanks to Trump, all of that
has been reversed and then some. He's actually gone as far as to legally
"disappear" transgender people by redefining gender in the legal context as an
un-changeable binary determined by a doctor's glance at birth that can never be
changed or modified on any legal documents recognized by his government.  While
I haven't been arrested for using a public restroom nor have I been discharged
from service or fired because of who I am, knowing that those are the rules of
the land has profoundly affected my psyche and self-esteem. I feel vastly
less-safe as an LGBT American than I did under Obama - I feel at-risk when I go
to work, when I go shopping, when I pay my bills, when I fill out forms, and
very much so when I see a doctor or seek any sort of medical care.
When Trump was elected, I knew it would be bad for LGBT Americans but he's done
more to hurt us than I'd even imagined. His words when he asked the Supreme
Court to rule that LGBT Americans have no legal protections against
discrimination - and lost the case - "It's unfortunate. It's very unfortunate."
So I have to live with knowing that the leader of my country believes it's very
unfortunate that he couldn't officially legalize discrimination against people
like myself.
.... and now that he's installed his pet, Amy, into the Supreme Court, that
decision is likely to be overturned - along with dismantling the Affordable
Care Act that protects 30 million Americans with health care in the middle of a
pandemic, not to mention women's rights. Roe vs. Wade? Gone, just a matter of
time. Regardless of how you feel about abortion, I submit that taking away the
right of every woman to make that decision for herself after decades of the
status quo represents a monumental step backwards in terms of personal rights
and freedoms - well, rights not pertaining to straight white men, that is. But
I'm getting off-topic so I'll return to my premise and conclude that yes, my
life is much worse than it was when Obama was in charge. I think that actually
applies to the vast majority of Americans, as COVID does not represent an
anomoly - it's not an external event that has nothing to do with Trump's
leadership as he'd like you to think - it's a direct result of his empowerment!
Consider this: China tried to hide the SARS outbreak of 2008 just as they tried
t hide COVID but American agents and the CDC played a major role in exposing
the truth in time to stem the spread. However in 2019, the president of the
United States was praising China's leadership and even in early 2020 he was on
TV commending China's efforts in dealing with the virus - assuring us it was
not threat to America.  Forget everything he's done to hamper the efforts to
get the virus under control since it exploded in America... I submit that it's
the fault of himself and his global influence that this thing ever got out of
control worldwide in the first place! He's done a 180 on China by calling it
the "China virus," well I say we call it the "Trump virus!"  To that end, Trump
has made all of our lives SO much worse, worldwide!
--- SBBSecho 2.27-Win32
 * Origin: Battlestar BBS : battlestarbbs.dyndns.org (1:129/165)